Stand and Deliver: Presentation Skills for RPMS Taylor Jones - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Stand and Deliver: Presentation Skills for RPMS

Taylor Jones CulturePoint LLC

26th NARPM Training Program

Course Objectives

• To understand how people evaluate presentations
• To review best practices for presentations
• To develop a game plan for presentations

26th NARPM Training Program 1

Agenda

• Introduction
• Overview of the research
• Overview of presentation skills
• Putting it all together

26th NARPM Training Program 2

INTRODUCTION

26th NARPM Training Program 3

Who Am I?

• Facilitator with a decade of experience teaching

difficult topics around Diversity and Inclusion

• Quantitative social scientist with teaching

experience across a variety of classes and over 50 conference talks, invited lectures, and academic talks for the general public

• Performer with background playing music

professionally

26th NARPM Training Program 4

Who am I?

• My career consists of communicating scientific

ideas to the general public through presentations, relying on the platform skills we will discuss shortly

26th NARPM Training Program 5

OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH

26th NARPM Training Program 6

Why bother?

• There is a wealth of research that indicates that

platform skills affect perceived credibility

• You are public-facing
• Your work is important, and it is important that it is

communicated effectively

• Platform skills are skills, not inherent – you can

learn, practice, and improve

26th NARPM Training Program 7

The research

• We can tell when people believe what they are

saying, and when they are confident in it.

• Verbal vs. nonverbal (Tenney et al 2019)
• Sounds of confidence and doubt (Jiang & Pell 2017)
• Professionals lower vocal frequency when giving

expert advice (Sorokowski et al 2019)

26th NARPM Training Program 8

The research

• The clues to confidence are measurable
• Pitch, intonation, and speed influence perceptions of

speaker confidence (Guyer & Vaughn-Johnston 2019)

• We are more likely to believe and cooperate with

people who send signals of confidence

• Even when we later think it wasn’t about presentation

skills (Clark 2008)

26th NARPM Training Program 9

The research

• Not only can we measure, we can improve with

training

• Communication training improves presentation skills

(Siebold & Rude 1993)

26th NARPM Training Program 10

The takeaway

• Presentation skills matter
• Presentation skills and confidence affect speaker

believability, and audience confidence

• The better your presentation skills, the easier your

presentations will go!

• We can improve communication skills with training

and practice

• You have an important message

26th NARPM Training Program 11

OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION SKILLS

26th NARPM Training Program 12

Presentation Competencies

• Content management
• Visual aids
• Platform skills
• Participant management

26th NARPM Training Program 13

Content Management

• Effective speakers:
• Connect subject matter with objectives
• Analyze participants’ needs, current level of expertise,

and expectations

• Identify and organize key points that support the
• bjectives and meet participant needs
• Identify potential problem areas and strategies

26th NARPM Training Program 14

Content Management

• What is the key point of your talk?
• What do people need to know to understand that

point?

• Where can they go astray?

26th NARPM Training Program 15

Content Management

• Basic organization:
• Introduce the topic
• Provide a motivation
• Describe the necessary context
• Explain the research question or point yo uwant to

make

• Lay out the data and analysis strategy

26th NARPM Training Program 16

Content Management

• Basic organization (continued):
• Document the findings
• Point by point, or,
• Laying out the necessary pieces to make your argument
• Provide comments to explain findings or implications of

the argument

• Wrap up

26th NARPM Training Program 17

Visual Aids

• Effective speakers prepare visuals that are:
• Legible/Readable
• Clearly related to content being presented
• Organized
• Consistently formatted

26th NARPM Training Program 18

Visual Aids

• Effective speakers manage the visual aids by:
• Testing equipment/having contingency plans
• Positioning the body to avoid blocking participants’

view

• Speaking to participants rather than to the visual aid

26th NARPM Training Program 19

Visual Aids

• What makes a slide bad?

26th NARPM Training Program 20

A Bad Slide

26th NARPM Training Program 21

Another Bad Slide

26th NARPM Training Program 22

Other Technology

• Arrive early and find your point of contact for tech,

if any

• Test microphone setup, if present
• If it is present, use it. Do not assume everyone can

hear you!

26th NARPM Training Program 23

Basics on Platform Skills

• Prior preparation
• Posture and movement
• Breathing
• Speed and pacing
• Asking questions
• Answering questions

26th NARPM Training Program 24

Prior Preparation

• Is there a preferred format?
• What is your timeframe for providing secondary

materials (e.g., slides, poster)?

26th NARPM Training Program 25

Prior Preparation

• Decide if you want or need a script
• Practice
• Decide if you need to time yourself
• Nobody likes going over time
• Brainstorm possible questions
• Don’t focus only on the smart questions; how might

people “not get it”?

26th NARPM Training Program 26

Platform Skills

• Effective speakers will manage:
• Nerves: transformation into positive energy
• Voice: volume, pace, and intonation
• Eye contact: range and focus
• Body: posture, stance, and movement

26th NARPM Training Program 27

Platform Skills

• Effective speakers will manage:
• Gestures: hand and facial
• Language: inclusive and technical
• Transitions and segues

26th NARPM Training Program 28

Soliciting Questions

• Assume that there will be questions
• Ask: “What questions do you have?”
• Avoid: “Any questions?”
• After you ask for questions, STOP TALKING, wait

several moments for them to think

• Perfect time to take a drink of water

26th NARPM Training Program 29

Answering Questions

• Let the questioner finish
• Rephrase the question
• Respond to everyone
• Refer to the central theme of the speech
• Feel free to postpone an answer or throw the

question back to the group

• Respect the questioner

26th NARPM Training Program 30

Answering Questions

• Sometimes, you can let the audience answer for

you

26th NARPM Training Program 31

Participant Management

• Effective speakers:
• Use participants’ names (where possible)
• Reinforce desired and appropriate participant

behaviors

• Refer to previous contributions made by participants

26th NARPM Training Program 32

Participant Management

• Effective speakers:
• Respond appropriately to questions
• Manage “challenging” participant behavior
• Make the experience enjoyable

26th NARPM Training Program 33

Participant Management

• Contentious participants:
• Attempt to take their question in the best, most

charitable light

• Thank them for their feedback
• If they are wrong, thank them for bringing up the topic

and allowing you the chance to clarify

• Do not get stuck repeating or clarifying – cut it and
• ffer to discuss offline later
• If their comment is not relevant, thank them for

participating and refocus (with the option of discussing more after the presentation)

26th NARPM Training Program 34

The Gift of Feedback

• Effective feedback is:
• A GIFT – given to be helpful
• Specific rather than general
• Focused on behavior, not on the person
• Descriptive rather than evaluative
• Concise
• Well-timed
• Checked

26th NARPM Training Program 35

Wrap-up

• What have you learned?
• About presentations?
• About yourself?
• What will you do differently?

26th NARPM Training Program 36

Thank you!

26th NARPM Training Program 37